"Royal Ponciana"

The flamboyant Royal Poinciana is conspicuous in the Keys

Ever wonder why the Poinciana tree and the poinsettia Christmas plant sound the same? Phillipe de Lonviliers de Poincy, the first French governor of St. Kitts, built himself a fortified mansion called La Fontaine with an exotic botanical garden. The plants, imported from Madagascar were named after him. St. Kitts and Key West are similar as both seceded. When a French replacement arrived, Poincy declared his island a sovereign state and sent the replacement packing back to France, in chains. La Fontaine was started in 1642, surely this must have been one of the first botanical gardens in the Caribbean.

The scientific name, Delonix came from the Greek 'Delos' meaning conspicuous and 'onux' meaning claw for the tree's four clawed petals. Regia means royal and it certainly is the queen of trees having been voted in the top five most beautiful flowering trees in the world, although, I don't believe I ever saw a French queen dressed in its flamboyant red.

On a musical note, the seed pods are used as an Antillian 'shak-shak' or maraca. Native American stories inferred that it was used to call 'spirit' friends. In Barbados, slaves used the instrument, banjos and bones to create music that was forbidden by the British government.

These are messy trees. High winds rip branches off scattering them all over the lawn. The flowers drop after blooming in June and July and make a mess under the tree. The eighteen-inch long seed pods are noisy and create an obstacle course when they fall to the ground. Send the kids out to collect them if you have a fireplace as in the Caribbean the seed pods are used for fuel. However, they are worth all the trouble because of their incredibly beauty during the eight weeks they bloom every year.

Even when they are not blooming, the tree has an Asian grace with feathery compound leaves that are only two inches long, but are on branches that are thirty inches long, then spread into secondary branches that have 20-40 pairs of pinate leaves, followed by the last branch which has 10-20 pairs of pinule leaves. The branches float like feathers in the breeze.

The tree quickly grows to forty feet in height and spreads to sixty feet in width, with a great red umbrella of flowers. Choosing the right spot to plant it is important. Keep it ten feet away from driveways and sidewalks as its roots will undermine them. It provides great shade, but it is difficult to grow grass underneath. It seeds readily.

Using an arborist to prune while your tree is young is important to develop strong branches that won't be damaged in high winds. Interestingly, royal poinciana can be used to bonsai and as a container plant, even grown inside. It is identified as both in the Leguminosae (bean) family and the Fabaceae (pea) family.

The tree grows at a rate of five feet per year and doesn't flower until it is at least five years old. It is best to buy one that is already flowering. A three gallon plant sells for $40. If you are a patient gardener you can plant the seed after scarifying it. There is also a yellow variety called flavida.

Poinciana is drought and salt tolerant and prefers dry winters, full sun, alkaline, well-drained soil. After it is established it is an excellent xeriscaping plant. The state of Florida says that it has “excellent ornamental features and could be planted more.”

It does not attract any particular wildlife except occasional ambrosia beetles. It could pick up ganoderma root rot if the soil is too moist, not likely here in the Keys.

Miami has a Poinciana Festival each spring. Certainly Key West has enough of these glamorous queens to start their own horticultural festival.